“Talking Black in America” – Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion by University of Oxford Applied Linguistics Research Group

Talking Black in America follows the unique circumstances of the descendants of American slaves and their incredible impact on American life and language. Speech varieties from the African American community reflect the imprint of African language systems, the influences of regional British and Southern American dialects, and the creativity and resilience of people living through oppression, segregation and the fight for equality.

“The status of African American speech has been controversial for more than a half-century now, suffering from persistent public misunderstanding, linguistic profiling, and language-based discrimination. We wanted to address that and, on a fundamental level, make clear that understanding African American speech is absolutely critical to understanding the way we talk today.”
-Walt Wolfram

“African-American language is central to American life, yet it continues to be widely misunderstood and marginalized. A new documentary from the Language and Life Project at NC State draws on decades of research to remedy our understanding.”
– NC State News

Filmed across the United States, ‘Talking Black in America’ is a startling revelation of language as legacy, identity and triumph over adversity. With Reverend Jeremiah Wright , DJ Nabs